.ORG, The Public Interest Registry Congratulates All .ORG Webby Winners

Posted on May 5th, 2009

A Record Year for .ORG Winners at the 13th Annual Celebration in June

Reston, VA – May 5, 2009 – Today, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry (www.pir.org), the company behind the .ORG domain name, congratulates all .ORG community members honored as winners of the 13th Annual Webby Awards. Winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers in New York City on June 8th. The Webby’s continue to see a significant rise in .ORG winners, with a 37% increase from 2008 to 2009.

"As the Official Sponsor of this year’s Webby Awards, I am excited to cheer on the nominees as well as the winners." says Alexa Raad, CEO of .ORG, The Public Interest Registry. "The .ORGs recognized at the Webbys as nominees and winners represent a community who is constantly innovating to turn their ideas into action for the greater good. It is wonderful to witness them getting the recognition they deserve."

Hailed as the "Internet’s highest honor" by The New York Times, The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Vinton Cerf, and Richard Branson. In addition, nearly half a million votes were cast by people around the world for their favorite winners in The Webby People’s Voice Awards and winners of the 13h Annual Webby Awards hail from 14 countries including: United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Denmark, Greece, India, Germany, France, and Brazil.

"This year’s .ORG nominees and winners underline the online growth towards collaboration, education, and inspiration," says David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. "Having .ORG, The Public Interest Registry’s sponsorship of The Webby Awards is an honor and we look forward to highlighting the diverse expressions from the global .ORG community."

About .ORG, The Public Interest Registry

Trusted across all ages, backgrounds and nationalities, .ORG is where people turn to find credible information, get involved, fund causes and support advocacy. .ORG, The Public Interest Registry empowers the global noncommercial community to use the Internet more effectively and, concurrently, takes a leadership position among Internet stakeholders on policy and related issues. The .ORG domain is the Internet’s third largest "generic" or non-country specific top-level domain with more than 7 million domain names registered worldwide. .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, was founded by the Internet Society in 2002. It is based in Reston, Virginia, USA.